My European Adventure

I know that I never concluded my blog, and even stopped posting a few days before the end (a week before, to be exact). There were many adventures to be had at the end of this amazing summer, including a full day trip to Cesky Krumlov for the Ren-fest to end all ren-fests, seeing a few more interesting shows (including the premiere of a Czech comedic work in English), and a fantastic goodbye lunch at a monastery, which you know means I had some more brilliant monastic brew...and my food came on a sword. Just saying.

I think it is safe to say that these events didn't make it into the blog because I was exhausted trying to soak up as much of this city as I could before my short time was up! I do have to thank my subconscious for planning ahead and booking a return flight two full days after the rest of the class ended on Saturday. I the time allowed me process that the trip was ending and say goodbye, which was pretty difficult to do. I had another breakfast at the Cafe Louvre, bought art on the Charles Bridge instead of trying to run away from the tourists, went to the Christmas shop and treasury at the castle, spent time alone watching the tourists in Old Town Square....saying goodbye. It also meant that Kurt and I got to spend some time with Dr. D and Dan, which was awesome! This is going to sound sappy, mostly because I am filled with nostalgia at the moment, but there is nothing like meeting your professor for some amazing Indian food (which, by the way, has ruined me for all other Indian food) and talking about your experiences. Awesome!

I found that I wanted to reflect a little on my experience in Prague since the school year is about to start and I am still finding myself in a little bit of culture shock. It was so strange to see Kurt at the graduate student meeting in the music building on Monday and not be planning what things we were going to see throughout the day or what we wanted to have for lunch. I find that regardless of where I end up, Prague has elevated my expectations for how I live my life. I want my days to be full of new experiences, different cultures, and open to the changes that might happen. I don't necessarily value routine and lack of change like I once did, and instead value the diversity of every day. I want to look past the small things in life, and see what really makes both life and the things inside that life valuable. All of the things I brought back with me remind of the changes I encounter everyday in myself and how I perceive the world around me. Suddenly, some things....maybe even academia, for the time being....seem so small, and the world so large and full of things to experience.

Today we went to the DOX museum in the morning! On the way to the metro station, we saw a big military ceremony happening outside and wondered what was going on! Turns out, it was the 72nd anniversary of the death of the paratroopers who assassinated Heydrich in the St. Ceril and Methodius church. There was a military salute and laying of memorial wreaths, as well as a band that played the national anthem. It was a very cool moment seeing WWII vets in uniform, as well.

I hate to admit it, but the DOX was not as cool as I anticipated. I expected there to be some cool large scale instillation art, but there was only one gallery open and some student work (which was not inspiring). We all know that I try to be open to modern art. Really. I try very hard because I feel like a failure as a member of the art community if I am one of those people that is like "well that was dumb. I can make a macaroni and spray paint penis too." I thought that the exhibit on WWI and WWII was interesting, though I would have liked more information on the concept. There was a little blurb, but I would have loved to know more. The museum/gallery seemed to be in between instillation at the time, which kind of sucked for us. Apparently, this museum supplies Urban Outfitters with all of their decor for sale. Seriously, that's what it looked like. The student art was....interesting. It was all about trying to take ordinary life events/things and make them art, so there was a series of pictures of a dude on a toilet, a porn soundtrack with an abstract representation of the sound waves, and a sculpture of video tapes. Not my cuppa. There was an interesting shoe sculpture of Jesus on the cross outside, which had something to do with Muslim culture because throwing a shoe is disrespectful....yeah. Also, a gigantic flying red skull. I felt like I was in a Captain America movie.

Here are some more fun selfies in the museum :)

After the DOX, Josh, Jamie, and I went and ate at Nota Bene, a restaurant that Tim recommended to our class because it had gotten a write up in the NY Times. The menu there changes every day, even from lunch to dinner, and there are a ton of beers on tap. I got a spaghetti that was amazing, though I wanted to steal Jamie's soup from under his face. We may have gone back for dinner before I had to run off to Otello and I got the soup and the Summer Ale then. YUM!

After lunch, Josh and I went and sat in the park for like 45 minutes before class and then class happened. Yay!

So Otello. Amazing. The tenors they hired to sing Cassio and Otello were outstanding. I would have liked for Iago to be a little more evil sounding (he was a little woofy for my taste) but overall this was an outstanding performance. I am sad that this is the opera that there weren't many people present for :( However, that did mean that I got to move in to the center of the balcony. Much better!! There was a lot of fire in this show too, which makes me nervous every time I see it! There were lots of candles and torches in almost every show I went to here in Prague. I mean, the National already burned down once. Do you really want to tempt fate?? There was an element of theatricality to this production that I think put it over the top for me, just like in the Bartered Bride. The acting was good. There was a giant chorus that didn't suck. There was lightening. There was fire. Otello beat the crap out of Desdemona in the middle of the show. There were cool lighting tricks. The modern concept actually made sense except for this one rock thing that I didn't get. EXCELLENT.

And now I am sad I have no more operas to go to :( Farewell State opera house.....farewell.

So....insert Tuesday morning here.....I have to try really hard to remember what happened here. It's only Friday morning. Come on brain!! This post will obviously be edited.

This evening, we went to see the Magic Flute! My very first thought was that I thought my voice was a little heavy for Pamina....not by their standards!! This Pamina sounded like Dr. Wascoe. She had a gorgeous voice, and it actually fit pretty darn well! Who knew. I do have to make an overall comment about opera here. Does no one know how to use their hands?? Apparently here you act with your face and with walking only. Ugh. That and the Queen of the Night looking like she was popping and locking when singing the coloratura passages are really my only complaints :) I think the using the hand thing would have made Papageno exciting at the level I think he should be--which of course is by American standards. I think maybe here the acting is just a little more reserved so the emphasis can be on the singing. I am going to investigate the brightness of the schwa in German. I think perhaps because we are so far South the schwa is really bright here, like almost [e]. I liked the set and costume designs for this show, and I though that Papageno, Sarastro, and Pamina were wonderful! The three boys were interesting because they didn't fly around, they just sort of waved their arms and moved around on stage. Hmm. Basically, I though the whole thing needed more motion and maybe an element of stylization, mostly because I wanted to feel more like I was in a fairy tale which means lots of contrast between characters. Oh well! It definitely wasn't a bad production by any means, just different than how I would direct it :D

a view from the top

Sculpture for the children of Lidice

I thought it was appropriate that children were playing near this sculpture now.

Remnants of foundations

What the town originally looked like

A peace pole in the middle of the rose garden

I thought that the simplicity of this memorial was perfect in light of the events that took place there. The peaceful nature what can essentially be described as a park was really one of the more reverent-feeling spaces that I have entered in regard to WWII tragedy. Usually, the spaces are full of people who do not really understand or are too young to feel the gravity of what happened in these places. There is something to be said for moving on and forward from these terrible moments in history, but if we don't remember them, they "didn't happen." This was wonderful final WWII site to visit because I think it provided a space to reflect upon the things we have seen and learned. It also provided a sense of peace, even if my mind and spirit still cannot come to terms with the immensity of cruelty and death. I would have almost liked to visit this site the day immediately following Terezin, to have some time away from others to process that experience.

See what I mean about the anxiety? Lol.

After the zoo, which really took us all morning and part of the afternoon, we all decided to take a little bit of a break before heading across the river for dinner. I tried to work on my blog/homework, but I just had to take a quick nap. We went to the Cafe Olympia right across the bridge from the National Theatre for dinner, where we all ordered the same thing. Lame. The waiter even laughed at us a little. In spite of the embarrassment and lack of creativity on our part, the risotto was good! The best part was that it was chock full of veggies for our digestive systems, which I think we were all thankful for. I did, however, cancel out any nutritional value found in these veggies by getting a chocolate souffle for dessert. I know, I know. I said I wouldn't eat any more desserts. Well...when else will I be 100% certain that I will walk it all off during the day? :)

After dinner/dessert, we walked home where a bug flew in my eye and got stuck in my cornea it was so gross and Kurt had to get it out because I couldn't see. Disgusting. I got a little heebie jeebie just thinking about it. Buh! It reminded me of the time Mom got a little gnat stuck in her eye at Suzie's one summer on the fourth of July. Yikes. I think that's why I freaked out so much because I remember being able to see it move in her eyeball.

I bet you can't tell what I did today :) I decided that today was the day to shop my face off--and I did! I went by Costa Coffee and got a chocolate croissant (I needed the extra sugar energy to deal with tourists on a Saturday in Old Town) and a giant latte and ate slowly to allow the stores time to open! I was on a hunt for the ring I saw at a Granat Turnov store, but they didn't have my size. Luckily, there were at least two (turns out to be three) other branches of the store throughout town. The next one I found was definitely larger than the small store off of Wenceslas, but still no ring :( So off I went to what I thought was the last store and was again met with disappointment...also a really you-know-what-type French lady who got angry with me when a clerk skipped her over to help me instead. I just have one of those faces :) Anyway, I ended up getting a beautiful, but more traditional, ring--which is more along the lines of what I was first looking at. I then went over to the Manufaktura store on Celenta and picked up a couple of presents (you thought I was going to give it away!) and noticed another Granat store! These lovely ladies helped me pick out a pair of earrings that would look awesome with my new ring! I had to go get a couple of things, so I headed over to Wenceslas to Bata shoes where I found a cute pair of flats in a style I was looking for (and on sale) and I got some more money from the ATM for my earrings :)

About this time, the boys show up and meet me near the bookstore where I got my copy of Capek's R.U.R. and War with the Newts and we headed over to Soup in the City for lunch! Their potato soup is fabulous, but I didn't like the quiche as much today. Sad day...The guys wanted to go into Manufaktura for a second, so I went into the garnet store and got my earrings! Not the ones I had picked out earlier, but a great pair all the same. I did make the mistake of showing a picture of them to my mom, and now she just wants the entire store. Haha! We walked around for a few minutes and headed over to the paddle boats!!

It was a gorgeous day for paddle boating, which had these awesome cloth chairs to sit in. Andrea and I sat in the back while the boys peddled. I would have been okay getting the exercise, but then I just sat in the back and looked glam :D

It may look cloudy and like we are in jackets....which we were.....but it probably kept me from getting skin cancer. There you go. Beautiful day! It was so neat getting to see the buildings of Prague from this perspective, even if a couple of the other boats were full of drunk or high douche bags. I will most definitely have to come back on a day with more sun and work on my tan!

Today was a really nice day :) I went out for my breakfast and then wandered around looking into bookshops, and just getting out about town again. It had been a while since I just walked around, so I scoped out a few shops that I might want to look into the next day. I found a couple of books by Tim Burton, that yes are only sold in Czech), but one of them was a children's book version of The Nightmare Before Christmas illustrated by his concept art for the movie, so I kind of feel drawn to it. I also stopped by a bookstore that sold sheet music! FINALLY! I may have gone a little crazy though....but who knew that Barenreiter had a Praha publishing location?! Needless to say I bought several scores of Czech music because they were cheap as well as a Barenreiter copy of Schubert's "Shepherd on the Rock." The Czech music includes a copy of Dvorak's "Biblical Songs" and "Moravian Duets," a set of Martinu and Janaceck folk songs, and some others :) All for like $75 US! Can't beat that.

I dropped my stuff off at my room and started walking over to the Palladium mall to meet the class and head up to the park for our class today. I met Leni and Josh S. on the way and we walked the short distance to old town to get a sausage and beer for lunch. YUM! I don't know what it is about Josh, though. Whenever I am with him, I always get turned around somewhere and it takes 5 times longer to get where we need to go. Haha! Sad, but true. Curse of the Servantes.

So we went up to this great park (i.e. beergarden) to have class today! It was a wonderful, cool day and the breeze was lovely. There was a stunning view of the city, which we explored further after class was done. The beer garden was about a 5 minute walk away from the giant metronome, so some of us walked over to it. It replaced a large statue of Lenin that was demolished when the iron curtain fell. The metronome indicates that the Czech culture/people will continue on in spite of political repression.

After we finished hanging out at the monument (we spent some time because it was gorgeous AND the weather was awesome!) we walked down into old town to look at some shops before meeting for "Venus in Fur," which was being performed by the Prague Shakespeare Company. we went in this shop right by the Estates Theatre that had some cool Mucha merchandise, which I must admit I was very close to paying too much for a Mucha music device that played Smetana's "Vltava." If it was also a jewelery box, I probably would have bought it.

The boys and I decided to go to the Slav Epic around 11:30 because we all had to meet at 2:30 for out walking tour of the Jewish Quarter and synagogues with John. The Slav Epic, which is a set of 20 canvases painted by Alfons Mucha depicting the history of Czech and other Slav peoples. Mucha, as I think I mentioned before, is the best known Art Nouveau painter, in both Europe (particularly Paris) and in America. I absolutely love this art form, so it was interesting to see it in such a unique way. It is kind of of like a mixture between traditional historical paintings, like of battles and such things, and belle epoch styles, which resulted in beautiful landscapes fraught with symbolism. Here are a few of my favorite canvases/figures.

And don't be fooled, these canvases are huge. Here is a little perspective.

I was very glad that after we had already walked through the museum and watched a video about where the epic was being stored before the guy with the brochures that explain the paintings came back from his lunch break. I grabbed one and went through as much as I could before it was pretty clear the guys were ready to go. We grabbed a quick bite and ran to catch the tram to head over to the Rudolfinium, our meeting point for the walking tour. And look who I found there!

Me and Dvorak are best friends :)

Of course I loved the walking tour with John and was my usual creepy self because I wanted to hear all of his stories! If you are in the back, or even a few steps away from him, you miss the cool tidbits that he tells you about something that you might have otherwise overlooked. Someday when I am rich, I will just hire a blue book tour guide for myself when I travel to all of these wonderful places. Anyway, we went into the Jewish museum here and saw some of the children's art from Terezin as well as the memorial that had the names of all of the Jews who died from Czechoslovakia stenciled on the wall. I don't have a picture of some parts of this tour because I really was trying to be respectful of the solemnity of the memorials and religious spaces. I don't want to be one of those travelers that takes a selfie in front of something with great moral implications or spiritual meaning for others. My memory can hold on to those sights for me. We walked through the graveyard in what used to be the Jewish Ghetto. The bodies are stacked 7 layers or so high because they only had a limited amount of space to bury their dead. That means that they would spread a layer of mud on top of the bodies currently there and bury the next bodies. The tombstones are all at macabre angles and stacked together because of this unusual burial need. Here are some photos.

We stopped by the Old New Synagogue, which is right down the street from the Jewish Cemetery, and is the "home" of the golem. The golem supposedly protected the Jewish people from the persecution of the Catholics when they tried to invoke blood libel, or basically tried to say that a child died because a Jew killed it for some kind of magic ritual. A rabbi had a vision of the name of God, built this golem out of river clay, and wrote the name of God on its forehead, which brought it to life. Supposedly his beautiful daughter Rebecca began to fall in love with the golem so the rabbi made it to where she would wife the letters off without knowing, "killing" the golem. According to some, the golem is still alive in the attic of the Old New Synagogue. What a great story! I considered getting a small golem figure, but I don't know what my Catholic boyfriend would think about that...

        John, our amazing guide!

We then went in the Spanish Synagogue, where there were some memorials (I did sneak a picture of one thing...) and had a beautiful interior. John told us that apparently there is still some animosity between Christians and Jews in Prague, particularly on holy days. When they reopened the synagogue after the fall of Communism, John attended a service with Terezin survivors and when they left, people were throwing things at them. Can you imagine? After what those people endured? I was dumbfounded. The problem with John being your guide is you want the whole world to be silent and listen to what he has to say. He has so many interesting stories and insights, that I think people would be better for listening to him. I would have liked to be friends with him, but I was either too busy listening or stunned into silence to really talk to him.

Isn't it gorgeous? The museum also had lots of artifacts that compared to ceremonial jewels and artwork used in the Catholic church. I don't know why I assumed the Jewish faith didn't have things of that nature, but some of the torah crowns were absolutely breathtaking.

June 11

So I spent the majority of today sitting in a McDonald's (not eating there! They had free wifi) and on a crowded bus coming back to Prague. Who knew that so many people needed to travel on a Wednesday at 1:00...tourists. Side note: an iced coffee means they blend your drink with ice so its all foamy. It tasted good (i.e. cold) but man, was it weird texturally.

This day has a distinct lack of adventure except to say that the countryside is gorgeous, especially the forests. After we got back to the apartment, the guys had to rush out for the Tory Amos concert and I washed all of my smelly, smelly clothes. Mandy called and invited me/the guys to go to a bar around 9, but I had definitely just put my last pair of cute clothes in the washer. Needless to say I went to be early that night.

June 10 & 11

The adventure continues! On Monday, we woke up early to a) leave the apartment before it became unbearably hot and b) walk outside in the gardens of the Schonbrunn before it because oppressively hot. In case I didn't mention it before, this part of Europe (including Prague) experienced a record heat wave the entire time we were in Vienna. Now, this meant the upper 80s/low 90s, but let me tell you, humidity BLOWS. That, combined with no wind (at least on the first day) and a town made entirely of reflective white stone, spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e and heat exhaustion.

Vienna is overwhelming. Not in a bad way, it just....is! This is the kind of city that you really need a week to be able to experience properly without running your feet to the bone (which we pretty much did). The trip to Vienna was really pleasant. There was a ton of room on the bus, so I took a mini nap in the back, we drove through some beautiful hilly-forests, and shortly arrived at a super ghetto bus station (international!) under an overpass. As soon as we got off of the bus (around noon, its a 4 hour ride) we bought our metro passes and headed to the apartment to pick up our keys! Then came a little bad news that we were determined to not get us down....the internet lied. The apartment was beautiful, spacious, modern....but there was no air conditioning. There was one portable unit to which the landlord had lost the exhaust pipe. Yay! Did I mention that there was a record breaking heat wave the entire time we were in Vienna? No? It must have slipped my mind...Needless to say we didn't come home until after dark when we could open the windows, and got out pretty early. And it wasn't hot just in the apartment. It was hot everywhere. It should be a rule for all museums and art galleries to have a/c. Just saying. So after we dropped our stuff off we went out for lunch at the Hotel Europa, which was basically an amazing chicken avocado sammy. Yum! We wandered around Stephensplatz and went inside the cathedral, which has the tallest Gothic tower in the world! (Due to the massive amount of time it will take me to post this and the massive amount of pictures I accumulated from this brief trip, I'll be posting another couple of blogs that will only have pictures with labels of this trip! Sorry for the lack of visual aids....)

After briefly going into the Cathedral, we noticed that we still had enough time to hit up at least one museum! We rushed over to the Hofburg Palace, which used to be the imperial seat for the Hapsburg empire, to go to the Royal Treasury! You guys can all probably tell by now that treasuries are my favorite museums to hit up. We crossed by the Maria Theresa statue, which I never seemed to pass in good lighting.

And here is what the front section of the Hofburg looked like.

You will be shocked to see several pictures with me actually in them in this album :)

I was thinking as I walked through this fabulous display of imperial treasures and costumes how lucky I am to have seen the broad scope of residences and historical relics that I have on this trip. There was quite a bit of treasure here that came from Prague, and it was interesting and sad to see it there. You see a painting or sculpture here or there and wonder whose home that used to be in in Prague. At the same time, if the Hapsburgs hadn't taken it when they did, the Nazis or the communists would have taken it anyway. There were some beautiful ceremonial robes in this treasury, as well as baptismal ceremonial clothes and gowns, relics, ceremonial jewelery (particularly regalia of the order of the Golden Fleece), and some really unique bowels and reliquaries. It was so interesting seeing the examples of heraldry worn by different servants, as well as robes used for different coronations. When a kingdom would be acquired, whether by marriage or otherwise, the ruler would then be crowned for that kingdom as well. There was a portrait in this exhibit of one of the emperors (I forget which one) that literally had like 5 or 6 crowns sitting beside him to represent all of the kingdoms in his dominion. It included Austria, Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia, and at least one other. Here are a couple of pics of my favorite items :)

Gorgeous! It was especially gratifying to see the crown of the Holy Roman Empire after seeing the really fake looking replica in Karlstejn Castle. It looks so much cooler in real life. Side note: looking through some of these pictures cracked me up. I know people know I taking a picture of this stuff (it is kind of hard to miss my gigantic camera) but they look ridiculous on the other side of the glass enclosure. Noted for when I am on the opposite side of the glass from a camera. After the treasury, we walked through the Volksgarten where I found this awesome statue!

And you only thought you had heard enough about Mozart! It was actually cool seeing/following the progression of his life, from Salzburg, to Prague, to Vienna. The culmination of my Mozart tour happened on a later date, however. I also found this amazing statue of Ferdinand I, which also happened to be at the perfect time of day as well.

My big study project when I get back from Europe is going to be reading about WWI in Europe. I am sure I have mentioned this before, but I feel like WWI monuments are much more prolific in Europe than WWII. Perhaps it is because of the shame, perhaps it is because WWI was (and still is) considered to be the Great War. I am ready to gain more insight into this area.

It is difficult to put into words the experiences of being physically present in a place where the fates of thousands of people were decided: live, die, stay, go…I wrote my initial and instinctual reaction to the memorial site of Terezin in my journal, which I may decide to share when I return from Vienna (where I am headed at the current moment), some of which I will mention here.

I always feared that I would be unable to have a “profound” reaction at WWII memorial sites for a multitude of reasons, including the culture of America in which I grew up, geographic removal from the war sites, lack of personal/familiar connections, temporal distance….but I must say there is a thickness to the air there. A weight that quiets your voice, opens your eyes, and quickens your heart—an empathetic connection ties you irrevocably to the plight and suffering of so many people. Hearing the stories and following the steps reminds you that it was real. Not just some script written by Hollywood to glorify America or scare you or make you queasy. Real people, real horror, real emotion. The gravity of what transpired here is inescapable and follows you with every step you take. You realize where you step the dead were carted through to the crematorium, a prisoner was executed, another punished, another escaped…The sky looks different. You step gingerly as if to not disturb the memories trapped in the earth. Your eyes see more of everything and question it.

Terezin was incredibly different from Dachau in so many ways, but particularly in scale. Terezin is massive, which I think might have added to the sense of confinement actually. It is difficult to imagine that the SS allowed any kind of social structure or art or music or…anything. There was a similar amount of people in less than half the space at Dachau, which helps put that camp in perspective. I think some people come here because they feel obligated to “culture” themselves, snapping photos to show their friends the places where people suffocated as a form of punishment, where a Jew slept, where they walked. I take my photos in reverence and as a tribute to the lives of those that came through this place, both in the physical sense and the historical sense. These places have left a scar on the earth, not just in the camps built, but in the hearts of every person who passes through a gate that reads “Arbeit macht frei.”

Each camp has it’s own history, it’s own stories, it own culture, it’s own suffering, it’s own feeling, it’s own liberation. I imagine that the day I pass through the gates of Auschwitz will be one of the most challenging of my life because I will face directly the extremity of human depravity. Neither camp I have visited was intended to be a death camp. Death still occurred at incredible rates and cruelties were incomprehensible here too, but they were not constructed for the mass extermination of people. Of PEOPLE.

This morning was a perfect prelude to tomorrow's trip to Terezin. We met at the Heydrich Church (St. Cyril and Methodius) where two men--one from Czech lands and one from Slovak lands--assassinated Hitler's commander of Prague. It was one of those places where you can just feel the solemnity of the events that transpired there. You can see the video clips in the main room that show Heydrich's funeral and the razing of Lidice, as well as graphic pictures of the soldiers after they committed suicide. In the small room, which is behind a heavy metal door, you can see the grate where the SS pumped in water and tear gas, the places where the men killed themselves, and other shrapnel. While their intentions were reasonable, the repercussions from their actions were excruciating. The retribution sought by Hitler for Heydrich's assassination was shocking. An entire town of people killed or sent to the concentration camps and the city wiped off the map. It still amazes me every time I discover a new story of terror from the war that actual human beings, like me or like you, were capable of such atrocities. They must have truly believed that these people, particularly the Jews, were considered subhuman to create some sort of alternate rationality for their actions. Amazing.

After the Heydrich church, a small group of us decided to visit the New Jewish Cemetery (we will see the old one in the Jewish Quarter), which had several memorials along the southern wall honoring those who died in WWII, particularly in Terezin. We really went to the graveyard to see Franz Kafka's grave, whom we had been studying in class, but the air of solemnity and sheer amount of graves of those who died between 1943-46 was a foreshadowing of what we would experience shortly. We also went to the cemetery where Valcalv Havel was buried and the tribute to his life was truly beautiful. His grave is covered in flowers and the reliefs in his tomb were striking!

We then made a poor Chinese food decision, which I won't discuss because it was disappointing, but later that evening it was opera time!! I was so excited to see Il trovatore because it is my favorite Verdi opera. Well....it fell a little short in several areas. There were some beautiful moments, and the Manrico and Azucena were spectacular. But man, something was up with Leonore. I don't know if she was sick, or too old, or what, but she couldn't access her upper head voice smoothly at allllllll. She would literally stop the line and jump up into it every time. If she was sick, I am impressed that she was capable of doing what she did. Her voice was massive, but it was really dark. I am not certain if I can say that I like native Czech singers in Italian pieces, just because they sing with SO much cover! Tenors have to have the ring to have their voices function, period, which is why I think Manrico sounded so much better. The set was also terrible. It consisted mostly of these three giant walls, each with the shape of a tall door cut out of it, scenes projected behind the middle door hole, and a moving 10 x 10 (maybe) platform. That's it. Ugh. The set never changed except the position of the platform and the projections behind the middle door, with the exception of an occasional added piece. Then. The worst park. No hot muscly dudes hitting anvils in the anvil chorus. Are you kidding me??? That was the part I thought would be the coolest!! Instead, the chorus (who had the most boring staging and body energy known to man...energy blackholes) did this weird fire movement with their arms as fire was projected on top of them. Terrible. It did improve as the show progressed, but I have to say I was disappointed. That is not to say that I didn't come away with anything of value, and the music was gorgeous 90% of the time, it was just...lacking.

I just typed the date for this blog entry and I absolutely cannot believe what day it is! There is no way that I leave in less than three weeks. We all frequently joke about how this needs to be a Summer I&II course, but seriously. It does.

Wednesday morning we walked to Wenceslas Square to meet to go to the Alfons Mucha museum, the famous Art Nouveau painter, illustrator, and architect. Thanks to my good friend Daniel Hogan, I absolutely love this style of art work. I think the lines and colors are gorgeous, which is weird since I don't really like pastels. Lol. I was excited to see that his original panels for the Flowers and the Seasons were in the museum, as were several of his Sarah Bernhard posters. I was surprised with how incredibly expressive the figures in his works were, and how large the works were! Most of them were almost as tall as I was, and his canvases were bigger. I think a set design based off of his artwork (say for the Ring, or Rusalka) would be amazing, but would take a lot of very skilled technicians to execute properly. There is a Mucha/Dali exhibition in Old Town Square that I need to research...I wonder what other works might be there. Several people commented on how they thought that there would be a lot more artwork in the gallery, but it makes sense that there wasn't. Mucha made his money doing private portraits or commercial work, so why would any of that remain in the possession of his family to be donated to a museum? I wonder if the exhibit has some of this private work. Maybe I like his work so much because it reminds me of the turn of the century in New York, which has always intrigued me historically. Art Nouveau and Art Deco became unpopular much sooner than I would have liked :) I also must see the Slav Epic before I go home. I can't imagine the magnitude and detail of those paintings! It is often difficult for me to be inspired by/excited for visual art, so I think I should see as much of his work as possible. I will most likely end up buying a folio of his work as well...I really wanted this scarf that had a Mucha-esque border around it, but the scarf was like $100. Yikes.

After the Mucha Museum we were free to do as we liked and I think we all needed to go home and prepare our work for the afternoon. Jamie was presenting on Kafka, so we needed to get him home to prepare. Class was fairly short today, so Kurt, Jamie, and I dropped our stuff off and headed out! We went back to old town where I scoped out a few garnet stores. All of the ones I went to had certified stones, which is great!! I think I have decided to get a ring (and maybe some earrings??) and found a few that I like. The question now is traditional setting, which is kind of like a flower, or modern setting (more expensive because its gold plated). Decisions, decisions. I think mom might also need a set of amber earrings to go with her citrine ring from James Avery, which would be a good use of the money she gave me in demand of souvenirs. Lol! The boys were very gracious as I did this, and drew the line at going into a shoe store, which I think I can be okay with. For now. They did make me go into a candy store which had some delicious fudge and some.....interesting........chocolates?? Let's just say they catered to someone's stag party....

We decided that our stomachs were going to eat themselves, so we began walking back toward the house and thinking of something to eat. Y'all. I am ashamed, yet very glad of our choice.

Yup. I never thought I'd eat there....but a salad with ranch and the prospect of fried pickles did me in. I tried to not stare the waitresses in their weird eyebrows or boobs. Mission: successful. Also, I went home after this, took two naps, and then went to bed. Oh well!

On Thursday, we all met up to go to the Kafka museum, that was interesting. It took you through Kafka's troubled life and the sounds/atmosphere made you think about what it would be like to actually be Kafka. How noises bothered him, the concept of Kafka-esque...it was a well put together museum! It was yet another instance, however, of how I wish I knew more German. I am seriously considering adding it to my course load next year. Kafka wrote in German, so all the facsimiles of his original letters were in German. Outside of the Kafka museum is Cerny's sculpture "Piss," which are two mechanical men urinating into a pool in the shape of the Czech Republic. Apparently there used to be a bronze plaque with a phone number that you could text and they would spell out whatever you sent in. Crazy right? There is a super political message behind this seemingly "strange" fountain, and I was surprised by the amount of people who came by tho see the statue, but didn't go inside the Kafka museum. Isn't Kafka a big deal? Isn't that something you should do? Maybe its just me...

After the museum, I went with Jamie, Dr. Donahue, and Dan on a short walking tour of where Kafka essentially existed in Prague. I had already seen it since I was with Jamie finding all of these places, but I am always okay with more time spent walking downtown. I just can't get over how beautiful it is. Jamie and I then got some food at Soup in the City for lunch and it was delicious! And cheap! We got a slice of the cheesiest quiche in the world, a small bowl of soup, a sweet roll, and juice for 94Kc. Ridiculous. We may have also gotten an ice cream cone.....yes. I enabled Jamie's habit.

After class, I tried to go the Dvorak museum, but apparently they don't let you in 30 minutes before closing. I wouldn't be upset if the lady wasn't really rude about the whole thing. There was a great statue of Dvorak's head attached to some Greek god's body in the courtyard, though, which makes me think the inside of the museum is great :) I am wondering if I should wait, however, and hit up all the museums I want to on Night of Museums, when everything is free. All of the music museums are part of the National Museum, and all of their campuses are part of the program.

The first thing I need to mention before moving into the stuff that I have already done this week is how sad I am that they are tearing up a lot of cobblestone streets in making repairs to the tramways. I thought, surely they are going to put those stone back in, since this is such a touristy town. Nope. Asphalt. It's so sad! I guess its really only on the streets that the trams go on, but I still think it is sad. A couple of those tram lines run right through the middle of places that are losing a little of their character without the cobblestones. Oh well.

Monday is almost not worth discussing, since most of what I did during the day was finish & practice my presentation, learn how to embed YouTube videos in powerpoint, and read my assignments for class. The significant things that happened today include finally buying out bus tickets for Vienna! I am so excited to visit this incredibly important historical center--and am looking to completing my Mozart tour of Europe :) We also went out for pork knuckle, which (as I asked several times before we went) tastes nothing like ham. Thank goodness. It was an interesting experience and tasted good, it's just a lot of meat! The quest for the vegetable is about to be reinstated....

Tuesday was a little more eventful. I woke up hellishly early since my brain put the light coming in the window and it being my presentation day together and decided to wake me up at 5:30 and again at 6:00. We went on the field trip for my presentation this morning to the Vysehrad cemetery, where Dvorak and Smetana are buried. Not only was it amazing to the graves of these two significant composers, but the views from the old castle walls are beautiful. I would say it ranks #3 on my list of awesome views. The Lobkowicz Palace balcony is #1, the astrological clock is #2, and this was #3. It might have beat out the clock tower if my nose wasn't running a little from all of the outdoor smells. Not that they were bad! My allergies just weren't having any of that. Dvorak's grave had a really interesting sculpture, which reminded me quite a bit of the woods--a place he highly valued and Smetana's had the name of the movements of "Ma Vlast" (my fatherland) and the names of his operas on either side of his bust. We did have to go on a bit of a seek and find for Mucha's grave, and it turns out he has this big plaque on a wall. I really thought that he would have quite a large Art Nouveau style. Here are a couple of pictures of the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, the cemetery, and the view :)

After Vysehrad, Jamie, Andrea, and I walked from the metro stop to the hotdog stand up by school because we were starving! Walking for about 2 hours will do that for you I guess. We walked through a pretty awesome farmers market on the way, and I couldn't resist buying a couple of apples and a 1/2 kg of strawberries. I mean, I could eat all of those strawberries at once. YUM! I also love that near all of the farmers markets I have been to here there has been a little fountain so you can wash your fruit (or veggie) and eat it right there! All of the green onions remind me of home :) We then grabbed a hot dog and sat down for minute before getting some ice cream. I feel like I should explain the danger of ice cream here. I never should have tried it because now I can't stop. Really. I can't. I do, however, prefer the ice cream down by our apartment--good call Rick Steves. We walked home eating our ice cream and I prepared for my upcoming presentation, which I feel like went really well! During the writing process it was a little difficult to strike a balance between discussing the musical elements I really wanted to and making sure the non-musicians understood what I was talking about. I feel like I included enough musical examples, even if they could only be short, to help illustrate these elements, so they hopefully have an aural imprint at the very least.

After class, Jamie, Kurt, and I went to the burger place down the street from our apartments. Why, oh why, haven't I learned that it is acceptable to only order the soup? The soup was delicious and I was hungry, so I ate my burger and fries too. Yumyumyum! The rest of the week needs to be as healthy as I can be......yeah right. The good news is that we immediately went to work on that food by going on a Greatest Race style hunt for some things we have read about! We found the House of the Black Madonna (a cubist building) and coffee in the cafe there, we saw many places that Kafka lived, worked, or otherwise existed--including several statues dedicated to him. We found where the Jewish golem supposedly lived and told Jamie that we had to leave or it would get him! The golem was supposedly a conjured protector of the Jews from the Catholics during the times of blood libel and persecution. It is supposedly still alive and living in the attic of this synagogue in the Jewish Quarter. The Jewish Quarter is niiiiiiiccccceeeeee. We stumbled across this really cute tiki bar and had to get a pina colada. I have been having a craving for coconut since time gave us those amazing cookies on the way to the Karlstejn castle! These drinks had a garnish of like 12 different fruits (and by 12 I mean 4), and came in a coconut. You could also get one of those giant bowl drinks that you all share, just like in the old movies. Super cute! I really did think the golem was going to get me in the bathroom down there, though. It was dark and tucked in a corner. Creepy beyond creepy.

It was really nice to walk around and explore with no agenda or prescribed events. I know I have quite a few operas to go see, but I really hope we have time to explore like this again. It makes you really feel like you have the layout of the city down and much less like a tourist, which is exactly what I look for in my traveling :) Being in this city, really in this part of the world, just feels so natural! Walking around you almost forget that you don't speak a lick of the language, until you spot a really cool looking building and realize you have to pull out your guidebook because you have absolutely no idea what the sign says. If only I was fluent in Czech, my trip would be complete.

So Saturday morning was a little slow for me...I slept in until 7:00! After getting ready and all that jazz, I spent some time getting caught up on homework, researching, and answered some emails. We went out around 11:00 or so to do some sightseeing! We went by the Dancing House, because it is about a 5 minute walk away from our apartment and we still had not been to see it. What an interesting piece of architecture! It is supposed to look like Fred and Ginger, and I really think it does. I don't get a lot of modern art concepts, but this one I can appreciate :)

However, we saw some examples of the art gallery and as much as I try, I just don't have an aesthetic appreciation for a garden bench sized brown piece of metal entitled "shit." I just don't. Needless to say, we decided it was best to forgo the pleasures of that type of modern art. After the dancing house, we ate at this amazing Italian restaurant, where I had gnocchi with a creamy tomato sauce, onions and salami. YUM! I think the worse a food makes my breath smell, the better it will taste, right? We all got lemoncello to drink because we thought it would be like a martini....well, this is what we got instead! Tiny shots in tiny wineglasses.

We then decided to brave the Charles Bridge, even though we knew it would be busy. I just like to see what kind of stuff the peddlers peddle in places like that. You never know what is going to catch you by surprise! Oh man....the tourists......it was like my worst nightmare!! We got out of that situation pretty darn quick and headed over to a store called Manufaktura, which sells gifts and good that are handcrafted in the Czech Republic. Let me just say that I want everything in that store....except the stuff that smells like lavender. No thanks! They had hand painted eggs, ornaments, a little jewelery, marionettes, bath salts, lotions, oils...you name it! I have a list I am going to have to go through, not only because I need to pick things that travel well, but because mom will be upset with me if I don't bring her back one of everything I have! You think I joke. She put $100 in my bank account to buy her stuff.

After the store-that-shall-not-be-named-so-my-wallet-doesn't-cry, we decided that we had enough of the tourist game and wanted to head home. We ended up walking bast the Three Roses, where we ate a couple of days ago, and I spotted a shop! Just to see, we went inside and I (of course) ended up buying some of the beer. Don't judge. That beer was really good and the island is constantly calling my name for sun, a beer, and a nap. We also wandered into the Absinthe museum for about 2.5 seconds. I am so not even tempted to have it, even if it is the real thing. Nope nope nope. So off to the house for a nap it is :)

That evening, we headed over to the Estates Theatre to see 1914 by Robert Wilson, with music by Phillip Glass. What a cool theatre! Literally. I think since the interior is all blue and white, it made it soooo much cooler temperature wise than in the National Theatre. There was a really cool exhibit about Mozart and opera in general in this theatre on the first level lobby, so of course I had to look at all the different stagings of Don Giovanni!

We had a glass of wine and then headed in to the show! What a production...Yet another time I wish I knew a little more about WWI than I do. This piece had very stylized characters, and reminded me of Chicago (or any vaudeville style) and Tim Burton mixed together with an abstracted concept/timeline of WWI. It made a statement, that's for sure, and was very macabre. I just kept thinking to myself how exacting the rehearsal process for this show must have been. It almost looked cartoonish, or like some kind of weird marionette show. I enjoyed the visual aspects of the show, and greatly appreciated the timing between music, actors, and effects (holy cow!), but I feel like I need to so several weeks worth of research and come back to see it again.

On Sunday, we all met up early to go to the Karlstejn Castle, which is about an hour's train ride from Prague. Tim brought us some amazing cookies that tasted just like Samoas that the Girls Scouts sell. Yes please! A lot of people were tired, but I guess since I get up early everyday and also took a great nap the day before, I was hyped up and ready to go! This ended up really working in my favor since this was another castle on the top of a hill. The climb still wasn't quite as bad (or long) and the fortress in Salzburg, but you have to work for it! The views from the top were definitely the best part of this trip. The castle is in a hilly part of the country, which reminds me of what Tennessee looks like......I mean, I never been to Tennessee, but I am assuming that's what it looks like. Haha!  Here are a couple of pictures of the village, castle, and views from the castle!

I don't think I need to say it, buttttttttt BEAUTIFUL! There is also a river that runs right next to the village, and a little stream that went right by our lunch spot! It was so relaxing to be in the countryside with no agenda, listening to the birds and stream. Excellent. The castle was a little disappointing, mostly because some of the people on our tour were obnoxious (Dr. Donahue actually shushed them at one point. Awesome.) and almost nothing in it was original. There were some beautiful pieces of clothing, some frescoes, etc. that were actually original, or a copy made just a century or two later. I would have liked to go up to the chapel, but I knew most of the folks wanted to get back soonish and I didn't want to be in a village an hour away by myself! The Lord was also looking out for me because I (with a little encouraging from Dr. Donahue) found a gorgeous garnet ring at the shop at the top of the castle. It wasn't outrageously expensive, but my tiny fingers did save me some money. The leisurely service at lunch also saved my wallet from buying what I'm sure is a knock off cashmere pashmina in TTU colors, but the food (and beer) were really good! I revisited my southern-ness with some chicken schnitzle (i.e. flattened fried chicken) and french fries. There were a lot of fries and my fry-a-holic self made sure I ate every one!

We headed back to town not long after lunch and I set to working on my homework for the week.....after a two hour nap. Oops! I got a significant portion of my presentation done (which is going to be really cool! I knew a lot about Dvorak before this because of my Master's thesis, but I am learning lots of interesting things about Smetana and really like his symphonic works!), and finished reading the chapter for tomorrow as well. Mandy and I ended up going out for a drink (and an unintentional dinner) at Cafe Louvre last night, and walked around for a bit after that. I snapped this cool picture and realized that in spite of the nap, I was exhausted. Maybe it was all the laundry I did that day. Surely, that's it :)